PTO - Unlimited or Specified?
Paid time off. This is one of those topics that repeatedly come up In conversations. The first part is how many days and if the answer is unlimited is followed up with a story about something someone heard about people not being able to take leave due to not getting manager’s approval.
Unlimited PTO was a new concept to me as a long time government employees the days were set on time in service. It was a known and there was a pot of sick and a pot of regular leave. I asked about unlimited PTO during the interview process and was told yes, as long as your work is done. That was a very ambiguous answer. Did I want to work somewhere that my leave had a dependency on work completed?
I did take that job. I learned that I really do like unlimited PTO as it allows for flexibility. I take 5-7 weeks per year. These are weeks that I am not even on my work phone at all as I bring my quiet phone.
I have many friends that have unlimited PTO and the average is around 4-7 weeks depending on position and location.
Not one person said their leave was not approved due to work not being done. I am not saying this does not happen as my group of friends is pretty specific.
I have also had positions where leave is similar to the government where x is earned each pay period. This is honestly my least favorite as I tend to vacation more in the first half of the year. Maybe it is school starting that gets my in a working routine or maybe the first half of the year I need a break from the cold weather? I am not a fan of any policy that is under 30 days. I feel like 30 days is a good starting point to have vacation, sick and appointments taken care of without losing any pay.
Now, the next part of this conversation usually goes to the do you use more leave when you are given a specified amount or when you have unlimited?
The answer is it depends. I have to say that having years of unlimited PTO gave me my own data point of that in the beginning I most definitely did not take more than two weeks the whole year. I have since changed that, but each year is different and provides a look that I probably use less overall as I think of leave differently. I also know that if I do not take it that there is not a possibility of getting paid out for accrued time.
This was actually a very positive part of specified leave as if you did not use it sometimes you could roll it over to the next year or you would get paid out for the days that you did not use. This felt like a really good benefit as my time off was valued.
I also know that unlimited leave is not actually unlimited. How do I know this? I asked HR if I could take paid year off and they said no. My immediate response was that it should not be called unlimited. They were not going to entertain me any further on that matter.
Maybe it should be called flexible leave as you can use +/- depending on a given year and no one will say anything to you. What is that magic number? Well, it is magic and different for every organization. I usually check out the employee handbook before I ask HR as sometimes guidelines are provided. If not, HR here I come because I want to know what is the average and plan my time off according because I do not want to be the person that takes minimal time off nor do I want to be the person that takes 1/3 or more of the year off.